Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1887-11-24
SOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL.
EYES AND EARS.
what n Georgian Saw and Heard In a Trip
Through East Tennessee, West Virginia,
Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

on q farm and among the farmers,
greatly encouraged my hopes In
Southern farming. The crops from
Georgia throughout Tennessee. Vir-
ginia. Pennsylvania and New Jersey,
were iine--that is the corn crops.
Wheat and oats had been harvested
and reported good. and grass looked
luxuriant, meaning the grass pastures.
More anon about grass and stock.
We hear much about Northern farm
ing and thorough cultivation. but !
saw no corn on the whole route
from Georgia to New jersey better
cultivated than our crops arc cultivat-
ed in Georgia, The culture seemed
the same, but rs you proceed north
ward the thicker the corn was plant
ed; in some places it looked like
planted broadcast upon the ground,
but all looked fine. After leaving
Georgia you see nothing but grain.
grass and stock farms. and such
farms and farming look like living.
| Grain, grass and stock in abundance.
l saw no Jersey cattle after leaving
Georgia; all were of the large breeds.
and in Virginia The Darhams seem to
predominant; in Pennsylvania and
New Jersey, Shorthorns and Devons
intermixed. | spent two weeks
in New Jersey, and never
saw better mixers and finer
butter made anywhere and in
great abundance. / asked why they
did not have Jerseys, and they said
they preferred the larger breeds of
cattle, for they were good for milk,
good for butter, made good work ami
mails, and good for beef; they were a
cattle for general use which they
found more profitable than the Jer-
seys. Iagrecd thoroughly with them,
and could but think that in Georgia
the Jersey craze would result in time
in ovcl-running the State with pig
my breed of cattle fit only for butter.
My favolite cattle were always the
Devons, for, for general use, they
were unsurpassed and made the best
of all work animals, either in the
wagon or the plows, and would
keep in fine order even in or
binary pastures. The Vermonters
are great stock-raiscrs. and they pride
themselves on their fine Morgan horses
and Devon cattle. There it was l saw
the Dsyons in their greatest pcrfc elton
and beauty, and that is the cattle that
would do the Georgia farmers the most
good. But cotton farms will never
raise or have fine. stock. Grain and
grass and fine stock 60 together; cot
ton and scrub cattle are one and insep-
arabic.
In Virginia saw the largest nun.
Der of cattle. The harvested fields OF
wheat and oats were pasured with
large droves of cattle, mares and colts,
and in some places with sheep, and
there also noticed the largest
clover fields. In Pennsylvania and
New Jersey they farmed moro on the
truck order Irish potatoes and cab.
bages and other vegetables and corr
and grass were their chief crops. II
all States where commerce and manu-
featuring were the principal pursuits
the greater the demand for food crops
and such in time will be the chief pur
suits in the Piedmont range of Nortl
Alabama and North Georgia, whcI
the farmers in those sections of coun
try will raise chiefly food crops.
noticed also at the North that progres
and prosperity were confined TO tn
towns and cities. like now doing in TIL
South; there the wealth of countr,
had concentrated. and the rural poru
lati0n was struggling rs best the,
could. The farmers there, who wer
dependent on farming for thei
support, were no better off than on
Southern farmers; it was hard worl
to make both ends meet. So in look
+ ing around, and closely obsorvin:
every thing, came TO this conclusion
that the farmers Of the South, takin,
{ into consideration the advantages O
! climate and the greater variety o
crops we could produce, that we hat
all the advantages on our side, if W,
, would only use the energy and in
, dustry that the Northern farmer
used, and observe their systemati
economy. They waste nothing; ever,
! thinO tho fnrn, that ln ,,t;l.un.
is used to advantage, even in maxim,
their manures, and they never do Il
, we do, in depending on the merchant
to feed them and run their farms fo
them. The Northern farm
|, are self-supporting, so III
as their food supplies are con
, ccrned, so what surplus they max
is their own. be it small or large, an,
if the Southern farmers would adop
-. and pursue that course, and made onl
=, ten TO twenty bales Of cotton clear
they would b. entirely Independent
and live as comfortable and bountif
rs any class of men. No pursuit o
earth. barring providcntial mishap-
p, could they be more the architect q
= their own fortunes, than the farmer
|, could be, would they but farm an
: manage their own business rs It shout
, be done. economically and usin
proper industry, energy and persC
verance, looking closely to all detail,
and if possible pay rs you go an
raise your own food supplies. w
have the climate and the country if W
:, would only make the proper use of ou
opportunities and advantages. job
= H. Dent. ia Southern Cuitirator
: Harvesting Sweet Potatoes.
: Toward The latter part of the mont
!, or during the first week in NOvcmbel
u a IL.